


Caesar's Dalliance

by Merfilly



Category: Ancient History RPF, Historical RPF
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 16:23:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4144536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at a few moments within the odd match of Caesar and Cleopatra from his POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caesar's Dalliance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vaznetti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaznetti/gifts).



> Dear readers, this draws on many different items read through the years to try and sort out what might have been in the Great Man's mind for this political arrangement. Forgive me liberties taken.

Gaius Julius Caesar had not found Egypt to his liking upon his arrival in pursuit of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. The puppet king, Ptolemy whatever his cognomen was, had allowed his advisers to kill the Great Man, leaving Caesar empty-handed and devoid of the feeling of finality for the strife caused by the fracture of his former alliance.

It would muddy the political future of Rome, to have foreign hands involved in the death of such a man, in the midst of the tribulations they had brought upon their beloved Rome. This left Caesar with a need to determine his best course, and he chose to linger in Egypt, to remind these Eastern potentates of the might of Rome. It would be in their favor, Caesar knew, to find some way to bring the ancient lands once ruled by Alexander under Roman control. The position of Friend and Ally, granted to a different Ptolemy, was not a firm enough yoke upon this rich land.

And then Fortuna dropped, almost literally, his method to increase Rome's gain in his lap in the form of the current Cleopatra of this forsaken country, at war with her co-ruler, and looking for a manner to save her inheritance.

* * *

The woman was intelligent, able to debate matters of state, but exceptionally alien in her concept of politics, Julius had decided within a week. If he had not spent so much time in the East on campaign, especially in Bithynia, he would not have had a frame of reference to understand her methods.

"Your ways are crude and bloodthirsty," he finally said, in response to another plea to insure her relatives were destroyed utterly before he left her in Egypt.

"Theirs are just as bloodthirsty, and they would not hesitate to kill you if they thought they could do the deed and appease your successors in Rome," she countered. "Nor are the ways of Rome so peaceful and clean, for your thirst to conquer other lands has shed the blood of generations of men in your own lands, to the point that your armies must conscript outside the natives of your lands, something that was frowned upon in just your grandfather's generation."

"We bring Law, Peace, and Order. The Eastern magnates of which you descend never stabilize, always fighting and squabbling over lands while breeding too many relatives with a taste for royal blood," he chided from his couch. She merely smiled, and he knew this was one point upon which they would ever be at odds. That mattered little, so long as she gave the riches, men, and ships to him in his further campaigns to come.

* * *

"Tell me your desires," she said to him, long after she had sated his base, human nature. He found that aspect of their affair remarkably entertaining, for she was as bold in her sexual nature as her political one. 

"To serve Rome."

It was the proper answer, for a man descended of Venus, of Aeneas, of the ancient Julii. It was also the safe one, when he had yet to fathom what, beyond a steadier throne, she was gaining from their alliance. 

"To serve? But you are Divine, blessed by Aphrodite herself." She looked at him in puzzlement, for it did not have any logic in her worldview.

"All Romans serve Rome. Rome is eternal, and men may only share in it by becoming known as part of her." Caesar traced his thumb along her ribs, smiling when that distracted her to other subjects, for he knew she could never understand what he knew in his bones. The one who served Rome best was truly master of the known world.

* * *

Caesar knew he had delayed in Egypt far longer than he ought, but the succession needed to be firmly handled so that Egypt would be his supplier in times of need. There were matters further east which needed clarification in military ways, and Rome herself needed his wisdom and firm hand. Yet he was amused to see the infant Cleopatra had delivered for him. Even if the boy was not his, there was no doubt that the child was healthier than any produced by the decaying Ptolemaic line in decades. 

"He will be Ptolemy, and yet he is Caesar," Cleopatra said, tired by the pregnancy and birthing, but trying to ingratiate the child further.

"There is only one Caesar," he rebuked her, but he did study the boy. To have his blood hold Egypt in time? Yes, that would do nicely. "Raise him with logic and education, Cleopatra, and he will rule Egypt with Rome's benevolence behind him."

She frowned, and he knew it was not what she wished, but for once, she did not argue. He knew she thought she could change him in time, but Caesar was Roman. No foreign born child would ever be accepted in Rome, even if he were to change all the laws... not that he wished to. Leave this boy to the Nile. There was a nephew of the Julii that would suit his more Roman needs for that time when he fell.

* * *

Rome demanded much. There were provinces to assign, elections to maintain, armies to raise... and yet Caesar was ever looking East, much as Sulla, as Marius had done before him, ever eager to enrich Rome with Eastern treasures and rulers passed under the yoke. 

Cleopatra brought him a measure of relief, joining him there with the boy. For as alien as her views were, Caesar often found he could look at his distractions from a different angle after discussing them with her. On one topic, though, they remained on opposite sides of debate.

"Rome loves me," the bold but tiring Dictator informed his foreign ally. "I am at less risk here than once I take the field in Parthia."

"My agents say otherwise, Caesar, and there is misadventure in the works, before you can thunder to your rightful destiny," she argued.

"Take your retinue and depart for Egypt, then, for I have no use of such words when I seek only to steady myself before the war!"

She silenced her worries, and had the nurses take the boy from them, to do as he wished. Caesar gave in to her wiles, letting the Forum slip from his cares for the moment.

* * *

There was blood, and the world was turning gray. Rome loved him; how could this be? To die thus, it was ignominy, and Julius Gaius Caesar covered his face as the end drew close. Perhaps, if the woman chose wisely, his plans would still know fruition. Octavius had the heart and spirit, and would understand that Egypt could be the backbone of all Caesar had seen.

Cleopatra would merely need to choose well...


End file.
